At Collegewise, we’re always espousing that the college admissions process should be an exciting time for families, not an anxiety-ridden rite of passage. There’s a sense of wonder and adventure in finding the right place to learn, grow and have fun for the next four years. Why not embrace that part and enjoy the ride to getting there?
But for most kids, the act of completing the applications themselves has never been the fun, wondrous part. That’s the drudgery, the part that feels like completing a homework assignment. It’s necessary, and you want to do it well enough to get due credit. But you’ll certainly be happier when it’s done and behind you.
But the one way to make applications much more stressful than they need to be is to try to complete them too close to the deadlines. And the best way to make them easier and less cumbersome? Do as much as you can during the summer before you head back to school.
Seniors will be busy this fall. You’ll have honors and AP classes. You’ll have activities and other commitments. You’ll have people telling you how important it is to keep up the good work if you want to hold on to your admissions to colleges that accept you. There will almost certainly be plenty on your plate this fall without having to sit down and complete applications and essays from scratch.
College applicants, you’ve got just over one month left before you head back to school. Now you get to make a choice.
Start tackling those apps and essays now, even just an hour or two worth of work a few days per week, and you could pretty easily log 15-40 hours of application work in total by the time you head back to school.
Or you can compress all that work into the school year, finding ways to fit it in around everything else you’re doing. It will almost certainly be a nights and weekends affair at that point, too.
I won’t claim that this part is easy or fun. But imagine what your life will be like if you submit these applications—all of which have been completed perfectly—in the early fall months before the deadlines. That’s a lot of future fun to look forward to.